CAfA arbitration is commenced by submitting a request for arbitration to the NAI administrator at cafa@nai-nl.org. The arbitration will be deemed to have commenced on the date the request is received by the administrator (Article 7(1) CAfA Arbitration Rules of 1 January 2019).

The requirements to be satisfied by a request for arbitration are laid down in Article 7(2). If the request for arbitration does not satisfy the requirements set in Article 7(2), the NAI administrator shall contact the claimant in order to obtain the necessary supplements or corrections and may suspend the handling of the request; this may cause the handling to be delayed (Article 7(3)). The NAI administrator shall send a copy of the request for arbitration to the respondent, inviting the respondent to respond to the request for arbitration in the short answer (Article 8(1)).

The request for arbitration and the short answer serve as an introduction to the arbitral proceedings and are designed to further the process of appointing arbitrators. They do not prejudice the right of the parties to submit a statement of claim or a statement of defence (Article 9(1)).

The special requirements a request for summary arbitral proceedings must meet are stated in Article 36.